The Beginning
Nothing known about the beginning can be proven as fact or fallacy. The stories collected come from fragmented memories and beings, and are often distorted in the form of dreams and from bias. The First Being Ramen once told Lazen that as he witnessed The Original Shadowone get struck down in battle, he ran to him and defeated his attacker before they could inflict the final blow. Shadowone was dying and there was nothing that Ramen could do to stop it. Shadowone was whispering something fainty. Ramen told Lazen that he said 'A forest, a massive forest, growing across the cosmos, growing on the stars. There's a rabbit named Kel. She runs from a shadow, consuming the forest, destroying the cosmos. Kel comes upon a stream of glowing water, and begins to drink. She drinks more and more, growing larger, and changing shape, until all that's left of the stream is a small puddle. She thinks to herself, the way we do, but better. She thinks of the cosmos and of the future, and sees a distant past, long before any energy existed anywhere. Kel bends over slightly, as she is now a shining human figure. She plants nine seeds under the dirt and waters each with the final drops from the stream. She then flies to a star and goes to sleep in its brilliant fires. She sleeps, and they grow. Kel sleeps. Shadowone sleeps.' Kel is believed to have been the first being to have any conscious thought, and to plant the seeds of life which would grow into each element, characteristic and power. The Nine Thoughtful Watchers The seeds which Kel planted and imbued with water from the Stream of Creation each grew into a being who embodied the basic characteristics of life, different powers and elements. The watchers were supposed to be able to live in harmony, because they had perfect contrast, however this was not the case. The nine watchers were: *Keros, who embodied the element fire and the characteristics of anger and haste. *Adyloth, who embodied the element water and the characteristics of wisdom, intelligence and trust. *Ashiya, who embodied the element air and the characteristics of ambition, protection and peace. *Valceroth, who embodied the element earth and the characteristics of stability and strengh. *Argon, who embodied the secondary element stone and the characteristics of power, determination and leadership. *Perthan, who embodied the secondary element ice and the characteristics of mystery, subtlety and understanding. Perthan would often change characteristics however to control, domination and deceit. *Vladamir, who embodied the primary attribue darkness and the characteristics of death, evil and distrust. *Triste, who embodied the primary attribute light and the characteristics of inocene, purity and healing. *Neon, who embodied no element, secondary element or primary attribute, but instead energy. Neon also embodied the characteristics of development and change. Each watcher was made to shape the universe and live in harmony, but Vladamir was not content with this, as he believed that there existed many more 'good' characteristics than 'bad'. Vladamir destroyed himself using The Pillar of Death, a creation of his own, and unleashed his characteristics of death, evil and distrust into the universe. This severely affected the original balance made by Kel, and the eight other watchers had to amend it. Each watcher, in turn destroyed themself to amend for the unbalancing, but to no avail. The order that each watcher was destroyed in was Vladamir, Triste, Keros, Ashiya, Valceroth, Adyloth, Argon and Perthan. Neon never properly destroyed himself as the balance was mostly restored, however he combined parts of himself with the powers now moving throughout the universe which had been created in the destruction by the rest of the Nine Watchers. Neon succesfuly created the attributes of lava, lightning, metal and nature. Neon then disappeared and life was able to evolve by itself. Ramen belived that some remnant of Vladamir in a mostly human form may have been the original Shadowone.